Chelsea misfit Andriy Shevchenko will join Sampdoria on loan as soon as the Genoa side sort out his wage demands, Italian media reported on Sunday.
“‘Sheva’ would be happy to join us, but there are problems around his wages,” Sampdoria’s general manager Beppe Marotta told the Secolo XIX newspaper. “Many top class players like Sampdoria and a deal is entirely plausible.”
The Ukrainian, who has scored just nine times in 47 Premier League games for Chelsea, is seen as the man to end Sampdoria’s problems in front of goal.
“We have a way to resolve our problems upfront with a figure able to stir up the crowd as well as put the ball in the back of the net,” Marotta said.
Shevchenko has endured two difficult seasons at Chelsea after moving from AC Milan in 2006.
The 31-year-old has been consistently linked with a move back to Italy, with his former club favorites to secure his signature.
If it is successful, Sampdoria’s move could reap the kind of rewards as that of last year’s loan signing Antonio Cassano.
Brought in from Real Madrid last August, the fiery Italian scored 10 goals to earn an international call-up to Italy’s Euro 2008 squad.
“We’re in the same situation with Sheva as we were with Cassano,” Marotta said. “The Cassano move is a difficult thing to replicate, but never say never.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB